


APPENDIX 

RELATING TOTH E 
COMPOSITION AND FUEL-VALUE 
OF NATURAL GAS 

AND 

THE EXTENT OFTHE 

NATURAL-GAS BUSINESS 

IN THE VICINITYOF 


READ BEFORE THE 

AMERICAN 


INSTITUTE OF MINING ENGINEERS 

ST LOUIS, OCTOBER 12, 1880 


SF'-'SV 


-- • 


Geologic Distribution 


INTHE 




STATES 


GEOLOGIST IN CHARGE.PENNSYLVANIA SURVEY 


- Julius Biqxl & Co-Lith. 





















H'S?. 



[TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING ENGINEERS.] 


THE GEOLOGIC DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS IN THE 

UNITED STATES. 

BY CHARLES A. ASIIBURNER, GEOLOGIST IN CHARGE. PENNSYLVANIA 

SURVEY. PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

I. Natural Gas-Explorations. 

The rapid development of the natural-gas industry in Western 
Pennsylvania, and the great economy which results from its use, 
both for manufacturing and domestic purposes, has led to an inquiry 
as to the occurrence of this gaseous mineral in all thickly populated 
and large manufacturing centers of the United States. 

Natural-gas springs are to be found in almost every State in the 
Union, and in many States gas has been obtained in wells sunk 
either for water, oil, or gas, or in search of solid mineral deposits. 
The occurrence of natural gas is, however, not dependent upon mere 
chance, as is popularly supposed, but upon the existence of special 
geological phenomena; this fact is now recognized by professional 
men and by many practical men concerned either in the exploration 
for or in the use of this gas. 

The desire among our leading manufacturers, to emulate Pitts¬ 
burgh, has led to the sinking of many wells in many localities, in 
search of natural gas. Some of these wells are now being located 
and drilled under the direction of professional experts, but many 
more have been, and are still being located by “quack ” explorers, 
who often depend upon spiritualistic communications, or the divining- 
rod, or by intelligent persons, who are ignorant, however, of the 
geological and physical conditions under which gas has already been 
found. 

My attention has recently been directed to a number of these ex¬ 
ploring operations where holes have been drilled, and, after failing 

Note. —In the Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, for 
1 880, Prof. Lesley uses the name rock-gas in preference to the name natural gas. 
The gas generated by the natural decomposition of animal, vegetable, and mineral 
substances, not enclosed in stratified rocks, is certainly a natural gas, while the gas 
obtained from the Pennsylvania wells is specifically a rock-gas, as the oil obtained 
in the same way is rock-oil. The name natural gas as applied to the latter gas, 
however, is now so universally employed that it would be impossible at this time 
to effect a change of name. 


1 



2 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


to find gas, my advice lias been sought as an expert. In some lo¬ 
calities, where this search has been made, every known geological 
fact is against the occurrence of gas, and in other localities, if gas 
exists within the general limits where the explorations have been 
made, the wells have been drilled at points where the opportunities 
for obtaining gas were the least; in other cases, wells have been 
drilled to insufficient depths, thus proving nothing. 

One of the members of the Institute, a prominent manufacturer in 
Philadelphia, recently consulted me as to the advisability of drilling 
a well for gas to a depth of 3000 feet within the city limits. In this 
case the drilling of the well was suggested by a driller from Pitts¬ 
burgh, who made an offer to drill a well to a depth of 3000 feet for 
$30,000. The offer was practically entertained, and a contract would 
probably have been signed for drilling a well in a district where, 
for sufficient geological reasons, it was absolutely impossible to find 
natural gas, and at a price for drilling five or six times greater than 
the probable actual cost. I mention this circumstance as only one 
of a number which might be cited to show the need of proper pro¬ 
fessional direction in all gas-explorations, especially in new districts. 
Even in territory contiguous to producing gas-wells, a geologist 
familiar with the horizontal and vertical structure of the rocks can 
often prevent the drilling of useless wells, which must ultimately 
prove dry, and advise the drilling of wells at points where the chances 
for getting gas are the greatest. 

Although natural gas has been made use of to a greater or less 
extent for heating and illumination for over three score years, it has 
only been within the last three years that practical men have ac¬ 
corded to.the natural-gas question the importance which it deserves. 
Many of the gas-springs and finds of gas, in oil-, water-, or exploring 
wells, throughout the States, have not been noted, because the value 
of the gas as a fuel or illuminant has not been recognized. 

II. Natural-Gas Literature. 

The literature on the subject of the geological occurrence of natu¬ 
ral gas, except in areas contiguous to the Pennsylvania oil-regions, 
is very meager; and scarcely anything has been published on its 
geology, except that contained in the reports of the Pennsylvania 
Survey, in a pamphlet-report recently published by Dr. Orton, State 
Geologist of Ohio, and in special private communications by Mr. 
Carl I, Dr. Chance, Prof. White, and myself. 

In considering the geologic distribution of gas in the United 


IX THE UNITED STATES. 

♦ 


3 


State?, there are not sufficient facts at present in my possession, or 
in that of any one geologist, to make a paper on the subject com¬ 
plete or exhaustive. I merely wish, at the present time, in stating 
facts with which I am familiar, to direct the attention of the 
members of the Institute to the importance of the subject. 

III. New Era in Fuel-Economy. 

The practical application of natural gas in various forms, in 
Western Pennsylvania, has opened a new era in fuel-economy, and 
in the development of heat and mechanical power. The practical 
necessity is now forced upon every community, where there is the 
slightest possibility of finding natural gas, to make thorough and 
intelligent explorations for it. For all other communities, which, 
from the geological conditions of underground structure, it is impos¬ 
sible for the rocks to contain gas in commercial quantities, it is 
equally important to manufacture a fuel-gas. There is no doubt 
that the greatest advance to be made in the practical arts and sciences 
during the next two decades, is to result (a) from a systematic search 
for natural gas, ( b ) from a practical consideration of the question of 
the manufacture and (c) utilization of both the natural and artificial 
gaseous fuels, and ( d) in the adaptation of plant and machinery to 
the new fuel-relations which, for economy’s sake, I believe we are 
bound soon to establish. 

IV. Structure of Gas-Producing Rocks. 

It is difficult to prescribe any fixed limits in the geological scale 
•to the occurrence of natural gas and petroleum. Every known rock, 
except the eruptive rocks, contains the remains of organic matter, 
animal and vegetable; and, since it is quite certain that both oil 
and gas result from the decomposition of organic remains, it is quite 
possible to find oil and gas in rocks of any geological age, subse¬ 
quent to the Arcluean or rocks without life: in some rocks in com¬ 
mercial quantities, and in other rocks in quantities so small as to 
be only of scientific interest to the geologist and mineralogist. 

Next to the necessity of having a sedimentary bed, such as sand¬ 
stone, shale or slate, in which animal or vegetable remains of past 
geological ages have been buried, or a limestone bed made from 
water shells, the presence of natural gas is dependent upon the 
existence of a porous or cavernous rock to serve as a reservoir to 
hold the gas, and of an overlying impervious rockrroof to confine 


4 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


the gas. The other necessary conditions for the occurrence of gas 
are more dependent upon the forces to which the strata have been 
subjected and the resulting geological structure than upon the age 
of the rocks themselves. 

It is not my intention to describe in this place the geological 
structure of the prominent gas-districts, or even to discuss the gen¬ 
eral structural conditions under which the earth’s crust must exist 
for the occurrence of gas in commercial quantities, but to indicate 
the geological age of some of the rocks which have produced petro¬ 
leum and gas.* 

The practical necessity of gas-explorers first understanding the 
structure of the rocks in any locality where explorations are planned 
is tersely set forth in the following, from a few of the conditions re¬ 
cently enumerated by Professor Lesley, as to the occurrence of gas 
in Pennsylvania: 

“Shall I bore for gas at my works? is a question so often asked 
and so seldom answered with intelligence, that a short statement of 
the principles involved in a correct answer to it will probably be of 
use. 

“ First of all, there can be no gas stored up in the oldest rocks. 

“ Secondly, there can be no gas left underground where the old 
rocks have been turned up on edge and overturned, fractured and re- 
cemented, faulted and disturbed in a thousand ways. If there ever 
was any, it has long since found innumerable ways of escape into 
the atmosphere. 

“ Thirdly, there is not the least chance that any gas is left under 
ground in the greatly folded, faulted, crushed, and hardened forma¬ 
tions. Where the oil and gas-rocks rise to the surface as they do in 
a thousand places, they show that all their oil and gas has escaped 
long ago. 

“ Where the rock-formations lie pretty flat and have remained 
nearly undisturbed over extensive areas, there is always a chance of 
finding gas (if not oil) at some depth beneath the surface determined 
bv the particular formation which appears at the surface. 

“ And, finally, wherever rock-oil has been found, there and in the 
surrounding region rock-gas is sure to exist.” 

The question of the geological structure of the rocks in possible 
oil and gas territory is of as great importance in practical explora- 


* All petroleum-bearing rocks contain gas in greater or less quantity, and in all 
rocks holding gas a certain amount of petroleum, however small, is sure to be found. 






IX THE UNITED STATES. 


5 


tions as the question of the geological age of the rocks themselves. 
A consideration of the former question is postponed for the present. 

V. Value of Geology to Gas Explorers. 

Although petroleum and gas have both been reported as existing 
in a majority of the States, and occurring in geological formations 
from the glacial drift of the Quarternary system, down to the 
Trenton limestone at the base of the Palaeozoic system, yet at present 
our prominent producing gas-districts are confined to New York, 
Pennsvlvania and Ohio: and the gas comes from the Palaeozoic 
strata. In a number of other States, the oil and gas shows are 
sufficient to warrant a practical exploration for natural gas. 

The tendency among practical oil- and gas-well drillers and opera¬ 
tors to discover in a new district the same section of rocks as found 
in an old district, however distant the new district may be from the 
old, makes it important that both drillers and operators should 
realize the fact, as proven by geological investigation, that no two 
wells can be put down, distant from one another but a few miles, 
where the same section of rocks may be found in both wells. 

Many illustrations might be cited to prove this assertion. One 
which has come to my notice within the last few weeks, may, how- 
ever, make this point clear : Two wells exploring for gas were 
located without the aid of a professional geologist in a certain dis¬ 
trict, and drilled by as intelligent operators and drillers as one 
will find in a day’s travel in the Pennsylvania region. One of these 
wells was started in the Hudson River shales and drilled to the 
Trenton limestone, with the hope of finding gas. The other well, 
about ‘20 miles distant from the first, was started in the Catskill 
sandstone, and it was expected that the Trenton limestone would 
be found at the same depth in this well as in the first well. When 
my advice was subsequently sought I was able to prove, after an 
extended survey, that the stratum in which the first well was started 
could not be reached in the second well before the drill should have 
gone to a distance of one vertical mile, a depth 600 feet* greater 
than has ever been drilled to on the American continent. 

Another illustration of the same fact is referred to further on, in 

* The Dilworth well, being drilled by Mr. George Westingbouse, Jr., at Home- 
wood, Allegheny County, Penna., bad attained a depth of 4618 feet, December 1st, 
1886, and is still being drilled deeper. This is the deepest bore bole which has 
been drilled on the continent. The last report I have of the Sperenberg well near 
Berlin gives the depth as 5170 feet. 




6 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


the sections of five wells drilled in McKean and northern Elk 
counties. There, the differences in the sections of the wells are not 
as great as in the case referred to above; but they are sufficiently 
great to prove the practical necessity of a geological study of well- 
records in all explorations for oil- and gas-sands. Illustrations 
similar to that given for McKean and Elk counties, might be noted 
for that part of Pennsylvania lying between Elk county and the 
Washington and Greene districts, in the southwestern part of the 
State. 

All the oil and gas in the three States referred to have been found 
in the sandstone, shale, and limestone strata of the Palteozoic system, 
with the exception of a small amount of gas, which has been found 
in the glacial drift in several States The thickness of these strata 
range, from 5000 feet in Ohio, to 30,000 feet in Central Pennsylvania, 
to 11,000 feet in Eastern New York. On account of the varying 
thickness of the rocks, it is readily perceived that a knowledge of 
the different individual formations in special localities where gas-ex¬ 
plorations are to be carried on, is of the highest importance. 

It has been a fact long recognized bv geologists, that in some 
cases many of the exploration-or “wild-cat” wells are drilled 
through formations in which it is highly improbable that any gas 
will be found; in other cases, the wells have been drilled to a 
greater depth than would be necessary to make the test complete, 
thereby incurring needless expenditure; and, in still other cases, 
wells have not been drilled deep enough to make the test as to the 
existence of gas a satisfactory and final one. 

VI. Rock Sections in New York, Pennsylvania 

and Ohio. 

The succession and thickness of the Palaeozoic rocks in New 
York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio is indicated on the accompanying 
chart. 

The thicknesses given for the different formations on this chart, 
show wide differences, and are sufficient proof of the necessity of 
geological knowledge in any extensive drilling operation, where it 
is proposed to sink the drill to a definite stratum. In such a case 
it is not only important to know in what formation drilling is com¬ 
menced, but how far above the lower limit of the formation, and 
the probable thickness of the underlying formations. 

In Central Pennsylvania, where, on account of structural reasons 
it is absolutely impossible to find oil or gas, the Palteozoic rocks 


Chart showing the Divisions and Prominent Thicknesses of the Rocks of the Palaeozoic System in Rew York, Pennsylvania 

and Ohio, by Charles A. Ashburner. 



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Notes —The index numbers attached to the individual rock thicknesses indicate the special districts in which the measurements were made as follows: 1. Eastern and 

Southeastern Ohio 2 Central Ohio. 3. Western outcrop. 4. Canal Dover. 5. Southern outcrop. 6. Lucas County. 7. Ohio Valley. 8. Columbus Well. 9. Noithern Ohio. 
10 Southern Ohio 11 Southwestern Ohio. 12. Findlay. 13. Greene and Washington counties. 14. Allegheny County. 15. Beaver County. 16. Elk County. 17. Fayette County. 
18 Tefferson County 19 McKean County. 20. Titusville. 21. Broad-top Mountain, Huntington County. 22. Sectiou between Lock Haven and Favrandfville. 23. Blair 
County 24 Carbondale. 25. Pottsville. 26. Wilkes Bar re. 27. Tamaqua, 28. Pittston. 29. Mauch Chunk. 30. Lehigh River. 





















































































































































IX THE EXITED STATES. 


7 


are generally thicker than elsewhere in the three States. I have 
given a section of central Pennsylvania, not because it is of any spe¬ 
cial use to oil- and gas-prospectors, but because it furnishes addi¬ 
tional evidence ot the thickening and thinning of our geological 
formations in different directions. 

Even within the limits of the oil-regions proper, the formations 
through which many oil- and gas-wells have been drilled, vary 
greatly. The Venango-Butler group of oil rocks, which I consider 
in a general way equivalent to the Catskill sandstone No. IX.,* varies 
in thickness from 250 feet in McKean county, to 500 feet in Alle¬ 
gheny county; while the thickness of the Poeono sandstone between 
McKean and Fayette counties, varies from 250 to G50 feet. 

In the Helderberg hills, in the vicinity of Knowersville in New 
A ork, where gas has recently been found in the Hudson River 
shales, the Clinton, Medina, and Oneida formations have thinned 
out to a knife-edge, and the lower Helderberg and Niagara lime¬ 
stones rest directly on top of the Hudson River shales. 

In Blair county, Pennsylvania, immediately in front of the 
Allegheny Mountain escarpment, the Clinton, Medina, and Oneida 
formations have a combined thickness of 3200 feet, so that if anv 
gas exists in the Hudson River shales, or in the Trenton limestones 
in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, 80 miles west of Blair county, it 
must be at such a depth that it would be absolute folly to talk of 
drilling for it. 

A notable instance of a change in the thickness of' the rocks 
which many of the Pennsylvania oil- and gas-wells have pierced, is 
found in McKean and northern Elk counties. Many of the explo¬ 
ration-wells which have been drilled in these two fields have been 
drilled in ignorance of this important geological fact. The change 
in thickness is so marked within comparatively short distances that 
it is worthy of mention here as an illustration. (See accompanying 
map and sections.) 

* I suggested, in 1878, that the Venango rock group from the top of the First 
oil-sand, producing the heavy oil at Franklin, down to the bottom of Third oil- 
sand productive at Oil^City and elsewhere, was probably equivalent to the Catskill 
formation. No. IX., and so published the fact. Other geologists have considered 
that the Venango group belongs to the top of the Chemung formation. I mention 
this fact here, because all my subsequent investigations confirm mv original view, 
and tlrs equivalency is a great aid now to a proper understanding of the structure 
of the Pennsylvania oil-region. The only part of the Venango group which I am 
willing to concede as possibly of Chemung age is the Third oil-sand, and even 
this I consider extremely doubtful. 




8 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


In the Dennis well at Bradford, the top of the oil-sand is 1782 
feet below the bottom of the Olean conglomerate, which is the 
bottom member of the Pottsville conglomerate, No. XII. This 
rock forms the most important key to the geological structure of all 
of those rocks which outcrop in northwestern Pennsylvania. At 
Ridgway,* which is 37 miles south of Bradford, the distance of the 
representative of the Bradford oil-sand, below the bottom of the 
Olean conglomerate, is 2374 feet, showing an aggregate thickening 
in the strata toward the south of 592 feet. 

Although between Bradford and Ilidgway there is a general 
thickening towards the south in all the formations lying between 
the Olean conglomerate and the Bradford oil-sand, yet the greatest 
thickening, as observed from the accompanying chart, is in the 
Pocono sandstone, No. X. 

Persons ignorant of the general geology of this district have 
thought that the sand struck in the Ridgway Gas Company’s well, 
at a depth of 2090 feet, was the sand that has produced such an 
abundance of gas in the Roy arid Archer gas-pool, about 7 miles 
west of Wilcox and 5 miles south of Kane; whereas the Ridgway 
well would have needed to be drilled to a depth of at least 2590 
feet,f to reach the position of this sand, if there were no thickening 
in the rocks between the Roy and Archer gas-pool and Ridgway ; 
but, if the same allowance for the thickening of the strata included 
between the Olean conglomerate and the Bradford oil-sand between 
the Wilcox wells and the Ridsnvav wells be made for the thickening 
of the strata between the Roy and Archer section and the Ridgway 
section, the Ridgway well would have to be drilled to a depth of at 
least 2800 feet, to pierce the geological horizon of the Roy and 
Archer gas-sand. 

This brief reference to a few of the geological phenomena, ex¬ 
hibited by the limited facts contained on the geological chart, and 
the McKean-Elk map and sections, shows the practical value of a 
consideration of geological questions as bearing upon gas-explora- 
tions. 


* The Ridgway section is made up of measurements made in the hill east of the 
railroad station, from the Olean conglomerate down to the top of the Old Dickinson 
well; below the bottom of the Catskill No. IX. the section is made up from the 
record of the Ridgway Gas Company’s well. 

f This is according to Mr. Carll’s estimate, that the Roy and Archer gas-sand 
is about 500 feet, geologically, below the Bradford oil-sand. 





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MAP OF 

THE OIL & GAS FIELDS 


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SECTION OF 

OIL & GAS WELLS 

IN 

MCKEAN &- ELK COUNTIES, 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Showing the thickening of the Porono anil Catxkill Jiockx to the South. 
By Charles A. Ashburuer. Geologist in Charge. 

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IN THE UNITED STATES. 


9 


YII. Natural Gas in Pennsylvania. 

All the oil- and gas-horizons in Pennsylvania are located in sand¬ 
stones and shales from the Portage up to and including the Coal- 
Measures. In Ohio the oil- and gas-horizons are included in the 
Palaeozoic strata from the upper Coal-Measures down into the 
Trenton limestone. While in New York, where natural gas is more 
generally distributed, as indicated by gas-springs, than in either 
Pennsylvania or Ohio, but where much less gas has been found in 
commercial quantities, the gas-horizons are found in the formations 
from the Chemung down to the Hudson River shales, inclusive, 
with the possibility that some may be found in the Trenton lime¬ 
stone. 

In Pennsylvania, no oil or gas has yet been found in rocks below 
the Chemung group. In the central and eastern parts of the State, 
no oil or gas has been found in the strata which are petroliferous in 
Western Pennsylvania. Here the oil-rocks are so folded and dis¬ 
turbed, that their structural conditions preclude the retention of any 
oil or gas which these strata may have contained when occupying 
a nearly horizontal position, prior to the great Appalachian uplift, 
at the end of the Palaeozoic time. In most parts of Western 
Pennsylvania, if there is any possibility of the strata below the 
Chemung group containing gas, they lie at too great a depth to make 
it practicable to drill to them. 

In Northeastern Pennsylvania, where the Chemung and imme¬ 
diately underlying formations are comparatively flat, and are not at 
impracticable depths, they may be found to contain gas, and even 
oil, in commercial quantities; in order to settle the question, how¬ 
ever, for this part of the State, exploration-holes will have to be 
drilled. I have no facts at present at my command, which would 
warrant the advice that wells should be drilled in Northeastern 
Pennsylvania for either oil or gas. 

1. Thickness of Bock Containing Gas. 

The vertical column of strata in which oil and gas have been 
found in Western Pennsylvania, along a line drawn from Connells- 
ville in Fayette county, to Coudersport in Potter county, has been 
carefully measured in various counties, bv different assistants of the 
Pennsylvania Survey, and the stratification of the rocks is fairly 
well understood. Many of the rock-thicknesses which have been 


10 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


measured and reported by the Survey, are given on the accompany¬ 
ing chart. 

From the highest coal-measures in the southwestern part of the 
State, down to the Roy and Archer gas-sand in northern Elk 
county, the total thickness of rocks is about 5000 feet. We owe 
our knowledge of the succession and thickness of the strata below 
the base of the Pottsville conglomerate, at the bottom of the Lower 
Productive coal-measures, in the western part of the State, to the 
records of wells in the oil-region. Sections of these strata in 
Northern Pennsylvania, published in my State reports on McKean, 
Elk, Forest, and Cameron counties, were measured independently 
of those contained in Mr. Card’s elaborate and valuable reports on 
the oil-regions; hut some of the geological divisions of the strata 
were based upon lines which had been previously established by Mr. 
Carll, and which are referred to in more or less detail below.* 

On account of the intimate connection existing between oil and 
gas, it is reasonable to suspect the existence of natural gas in ad 
sandstones producing oil. 

2. Gas in Carboniferous Rocks. 

The geologically highest oil, yet found in Pennsylvania, of which 
we have any record, is along Whitley and Dunkard creeks in the 
southeastern part of Greene county. According to Professor J. J. 
Stevenson: “Three persistent sandstones have been found in the 
weds, at 165, 425, and 560 feet respectively, below the Pittsburgh 
coal-bed, and their thicknesses are, in each case, 66, 50, and 400 
feet. The upper sandstone is the Morgantown, the middle the 
Mahoning sandstone, which caps the Lower Productive coal-mea¬ 
sures in Western Pennsylvania, and the upper part of the lower 
sandstone belongs to the Lower Productive coal-measures, and the 
lower part to the Pottsville conglomerate.’' 

The highest stratum in which any considerable quantity of gas 
has been found is the Homewood sandstone, constituting the upper 
of the three usually recognized members of the Pottsville conglom¬ 
erate. Gas has been found at this horizon in the immediate vicinity 
of Hickory Post Office, Mt. Pleasant township, Washington 
county, in weds only about 1060 feet deep. Gas has aiso been 
found at the same geological horizon at Cannonsburg, in Chartiers 
township, same county. 

* For more detailed facts than are given here, see Mr. Carll’s report (1885) on 
oil and gas. 



Section No. 3. 

ALLEGHENY AND WASHINGTON CO S. 

“"I Pittsburgh Coal Bed 

(.Base of Upper Productive 
Coal Measures) 


GENERAL SECTIONS 

SHOWING THE RELATIVE POSITIONS 

OF THE 

PETROLEUM & NATURAL-GAS SANDS 

BETWEEN 

ALLEGANY COUNTY, NEW YORK, 


200 


WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 


Notes. 1. This chart is based upon a similar chart prepared by John F. Carllfor the 
Annual Report,Geological Survey, 1885- The changes which have been made 
are based upon the surveys of Chas. A. Ashbumer. 

2. Each orte of these three sections is general for considerable areas so that in no 
one well is it probable that there can be found all the strata shown in any one 
section. 


500 


Section No. 2. 

BUTLER COUNTY 


900 


100 


200 


,^300 


Section No.l. 

FROM ALLEGANY CO ,N.Y. 

TO VENANGO CO.,PA.^- 

Mauch Chunk ',^M&f9 n -J ha r on 
Red Shale No. XI) 


400 


O 

Z 

W 

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h 

tn 

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0 

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0 

o 

0 

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200 


500 


0 

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U) 

J 

J 


600 


fKoi 

I Ohio Conglomerate 
] (Bottom member of the 
[\Pott8ville Conglomerate No. XII) 
Sub.Olean Conglomerate 


500 


Shenango Sandstone 


600 


Pi thole Grit 
Berea Grit 


700 


800 


700 


* 

0) 

h 

< 

O 


900 


1000 


1100 


I 


e 


1300 


's. 


1400 


S' 


1500 


w 

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2 

O 

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m 

Q 

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2200 


2600 


2700 


2300 


2900 


3100 




3100 


3500 


8800 


3700 
















- 






















Cooper Oil Sand 


Approximate line of division between 
Carboniferous andDevonian Periods 
First Sand 


900 


Second Sand 


Stray 
Third Sand 


1200 


1300 


1500 


Warren “Slush Oil” 


1600 


Warren “3 I'd. Sand" 


Clarendon "3rd. Sand” 


Cherry Grove Oil Sand 
Sheffield Gas Sand 


2100 


Oil Sand 


2300 


2400 


2500 


Waugh and Porter Oil Sand, 
Allegany Co. N. r. 


2600 


2700 


Elk Co., Sand 


2900 


Bottom of Clapp Well No. 45. 


3000 


2000- 


Ferrif. Limestone 


Q 

Z 

< 


o 

z 


o 

z 

u 

J 

< 

x 

(A 

* 

z 

D 

X 

o 

X 

o 


1400 


Petrolia ‘'1st. Sand" 
Thom Creek "Gas Sand” 


W 

z 

0 

h 

(0 

Q 

Z 

< 

CA 


< 

s 


1600 


1700 


0 

z 

0 

o 

0 

(L 


1S00 


Butler “Second Sand” 
“100/oof Rock ” 

‘50 foot Rock” 


1900 


‘30 foot Rock” 

“Blue Monday Sand" 


o 

a 2000 


‘Boulder Sand" 

1 Stray Third Sand" 
1 Third Sand" 

*Fourth Sand” 


2100 


2200 


2400 


2500 


2700 


2300 


2900 


3000 


3100 


3200 


3300 


Bottom of Economy Well No. 2. 
Beaver Falls 


3500 


3600 


3700 


Bottom of Newcastle Well. 
Lawrence Co. 


4000 


0 

Z 


'1st. S. S." Dunkard Creek 


Cvlnoidal Limestone 


(J) 
U 
£T 
D 
<n 
< 
w 


J 

< 

0 

o 

“2nd. S. S." Dunkard Creek 

Q 

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"3rd. S. S." Dunkard Creek 


Ferriferous Limestone 


Gas at Hickory and 
Cannonsbu rgh, 
Washington Co. 


> 

if) 


o 

0. 


Z 

o 

ra 

K 

< 

o 


Gas, Lardintown 


Gas Cannonsburgli 
” Tarrentum, Homewood, 
” Washington 
Oil Washington 
"Pittsburgh Salt~Water~Sand 
Gas Leeehburgh and 
Murraysville 


Gas Beaver Co.{f) 

Gas, Pine Run,Westmoreland Co, 
Gas, Me Guigan Well'Washington Co 
Oil,Gordon Well ” ” M 


Gas, Jones and Laughlins, 
Pittsburgh 


Bottom of Sandy 
Measures 


Bottom of Jones and 
Laughlin Weil, 
Pittsburgh. 


Note: 


Bottom of Fagundus Well No. 37. 


The Cherry Grove and underlying oil and gas sands in Mc¬ 
Kean, Elk and Forest Counties seem to have a limited occur¬ 
rence within areas special to each sand in these three counties. 
It is extremely doubtful whether the geological horizon of any 
of these sands has been accurately located in any of the deep 
wells in Pa. south west of Forest County; although such has 
been claimed by a number of oil and gas operators and local 
geologists. 


Bottom of Buchannan 
Well, Washington Co. 



Miles. 

10 So 30 


10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 
Kilometers. 


Bottom of Watson Well 
near Titusville 


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FEET 100 

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100 


200 


Scale,-200 Feet to 1 Inch. 
300 


400 

I 


40 30 20 10 0 


n--r 

100 , 150 

r—-th. of Nature 


500 

1 


—I— 

250 


900 


I 

300 


1000 








































































































































































































































IN THE UNITED STATES. 


11 


The next lower gas-producing rock in the geological column is a 
sandstone which produced gas at Thorn Creek. This, no doubt, is 
identical with the rock in which gas was found at Lardintown in 
the southeastern corner of Butler county. This rock may be 
identical with the Pit Hole grit, described by Mr. Carll, and the 
Berea grit of the Ohio Survey. In Allegheny and Washington 
counties, this gas-sand is about 1725 feet below the Pittsburgh coal¬ 
bed, and between 800 and 900 feet below the Homewood sandstone. 

Professor Orton claims that the Berea grit of Ohio is in all 
probability the First oil-sand of the Venango-Butler group. I 
believe, however, that it is more probably the Pit Plole grit. This 
suggested identity would make the Berea grit the same as the Thorn 
Creek gas-sand. 

3. Irregular Structure of Rocks South of Pittsburgh. 

It might be naturally inferred from the positive assertions which 
are continually being made by oil- and gas-well operators, that the 
group of rocks immediately overlying the Venango-Butler sands 
in the Pittsburgh district were very regular in their occurrence, 
both as to thickness* and character. In this connection it might be 
well to refer to Mr. Carll’s report on this subject, as follows: 

“ To the north and northwest of Washington, as far as Beaver 
Falls and Smith’s Ferry, all the developments indicate that im¬ 
portant changes occur in the stratigraphieal order and character of 
the rocks below the mountain sands. This is a part of the middle 
ground between the southwesterly dipping deposits of Pennsylvania 
and the southeasterly sloping rocks of Ohio; and it will be strange 
indeed if the whole country south of the Ohio River and west of 
the Monongahela, should not be found to be a region of consider¬ 
able irregularity of structure, requiring a close and patient study 
of details, and the drilling of many unsuccessful wells to unravel 
its intricacies.” 

Recent developments in the vicinity of Mt. Morris, Greene 
county, and in West Virginia, immediately south of the Pennsyl- 

* It is impossible to state the exact vertical distance between any two strata in 
Western Pennsylvania, unless a very limited area is referred to in the immediate 
vicinity of an actually measured section. Although there is a remarkable similarity 
in many of the measured sections throughout the oil-regions, yet the individual rocks 
or group of rocks are subjected to great variation in certain directions within large 
areas, and also sometimes to purely local variations, which make it difficult to state 
thicknesses for extended areas, such as a county, within intervals smaller than 50 
feet, and at times within 100 and 200 feet. 



12 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


vania State line, have led to the most positive statements on the 
part of drillers and operators, as to the identity of the sands which 
have been struck in the wild-cat wells of this region. These asser¬ 
tions are not based on any reasonable comparison of facts, but upon 
dogmatic opinions without any geological basis. 

4. Gas in Catskill Rocks. 

In the Pittsburgh-Washington gas-districts, the producing gas- 
sands are all located within the Venango-Butler oil-group, and 
immediately above it. The gas-sand in the Murraysville district 
comes from the first oil-sand at the top of the group, and the gas 
at Tarentum and Homewood, and the lower gas at Cannonsburg 
and Hickory, come apparently from a sand immediately over the 
first oil-sand. 

In Beaver county, and at Pine Bun, Westmoreland county, the 
gas probably comes from near the center of the group, while still 
lower in the group is located the gas-sand of the McGuigan well in 
Washington county, and the Jones and Laugh!in’s well in Pitts¬ 
burgh. 

The Venango-Butler oil-group ranges from 300 to 375 feet* in 
thickness in Venango and Butler counties, and within it lie all the 
most prominent producing oil and gas-sands of Western Pennsyl¬ 
vania, which have as yet been exploited from Titusville, in Crawford 
county, south. The Lard in town sand lies, probably, less than 100 
feet above the top of the Murraysville gas-sand. 

5. Gas in Chemung and Portage Rocks. 

Descending the geological column we have below the Venango- 
Butler group, from 300 to 350 feet of shales, and thin sandstones, 
which, as far as explored, contain no oil or gas. 

Below this barren interval lies the Warren oil-group, about 300 
feet thick, containing the Warren Slush oil-sand and Third oil-sand. 
Both of these sands and the Clarendon Third sand of Warren 
county, which lies probably 150 feet below the Warren Third sand, 

* This group of rocks in parts of Allegheny county is probably 500 feet thick. 
The variability in the thickness and character of the oil- and gas-sands of this group 
within restricted areas, a fact not fully appreciated by oil- and gas-operators, is 
sufficient evidence of the practical importance of drilling operations, even around 
Pittsburgh, being conducted under the general supervision of a geologist familiar 
with the stratigraphy of the western part of the State, and of the principles gov¬ 
erning such geological phenomena. 



IN THE UNITED STATES. 


13 


all contain with oil, a certain amount of gas. The slush oil iu the 
Bradford district has considerable gas associated with it, and comes 
probably from the Clarendon horizon. 

The oil-sand of the Allegany district, New York, is also a gas- 
producer. According to Mr. Carll this sand lies about 150 feet 
below the Clarendon Third sand. From my own examinations, 
made in both the Allegany and Bradford oil-districts and across 
the intervening country, I was disposed to regard this sand as iden¬ 
tical with the Bradford, which lies between 300 and 400 feet below 
the Clarendon Third sand. 

About 200 feet below the Clarendon Third is located the oil-sand 
of the Cherry Grove district, in Warren county, and the gas-sand 
of the Sheffield gas-pool, which extends across Warren and McKean 
counties along a line south of the Philadelphia and Eric Railroad : 
the Sheffield is one of the largest and most prolific gas-pools in 
Pennsylvania. 

The Bradford oil-sand, which in the geological column is over 
100 feet below the Sheffield gas-sand, and the Cooper oil-sand, 
which is probably still lower than the Bradford sand, are both oil- 
and gas-producers. 

The only other gas-sands which have so far been developed, and 
which are worthy of a general consideration are: (1) the Kane 
sand* which is, no doubt, stratigraphically below the Smethport sand, 
which latter sand I named in 1878, and which occurs 360 feet below 
the Bradford sand ; and (2) the sand of the Roy and Archer gas- 
pool, in the northwestern corner of Elk county. According to Mr. 
Carll, the geological position of this latter sand is over 500 feet below 
that of the Bradford sand, and more than 1800 feet below the hori¬ 
zon of the Murraysville gas-sand.f 

It is hardly probable than any three or more of these different 
gas-sands will be found to be large producers in any one well, or, in 
fact, in any one pool in Pennsylvania. It is probable, however, 
that some of these individual gas-sands will be found to be large 
producers in territory which has not as yet been tested by the 
drill. 


* The Kane gas-sand may he identical with the Roy and Archer sand, 
f That is, in northern Elk county. Whether the Roy and Archer gas-sand has 
a representative in Allegheny and Washington counties, and if so, how far below 
the Murraysville gas-sand in these two counties it would occur, are questions not to 
be theorized upon, but to be settled by actual drilling. 




14 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


VIII. Durability of our Gas Supply. 

The amount of gas at present flowing from the explored sands 
in Pennsylvania is probably two or three times greater than is 
required to meet all present demands. With an appreciation of this 
fact, and of the possibility of extending the oil-pools and develop¬ 
ing new ones, verv little alarm should be entertained as to the ex- 
haustion in the near future* of the gas-sands of Pennsylvania and 
the prostration of the manufacturing interests which have now 
become dependent upon its use.f 

It becomes a question of vital importance to the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania, and to every citizen interested in the industrial 
concerns of the State, that the extravagant waste of natural gas, 
now going on everywhere throughout the oil-and gas-region should 
be stopped. The action of the Philadelphia Company (supplying 
Pittsburgh), which is now the largest natural-gas company in Penn¬ 
sylvania, in shutting in the wells all the surplus gas which is not 
needed, should be emulated by every individual who has pecuniary 
interests in gas-wells and it is a question which should be settled by 
our State legislature, bv compelling all gas-well drillers and opera¬ 
tors to shut in the gas which is not needed. 

Although I believe the present manufacturing and domestic con¬ 
sumers of natural gas will not return to coal for fuel when the gas 
is exhausted, but will use a manufactured fuel-gas, yet at the same 
time, a region such as Pittsburgh, where natural gas is so abundant, 
must always have an advantage over a community depending upon 


* It must be remembered, that there seems to be no doubt, that all the gas 
which can be obtained for commercial purposes now exists, and is stored in an 
exhaustible reservoir; so that, the same as witli all other mineral deposits, the life 
of a gas-pool is proportional to the amount of gas contained and to the demands 
made upon it. 

f There is no ground for the alarm which is entertained by some persons in the 
gas-regions, but by many more in other sections of the country in the direction 
indicated, since some of the natural-gas supply-companies (notably, the Philadel¬ 
phia Company) have already taken into consideration the manufacture of a fuel- 
gas which, in the event of the failure of the natural product, could be supplied to 
consumers, even in the Pittsburgh coal-region, at prices which would compete with 
the cost of coal. A company is now being organized in Pittsburgh, for the purpose 
of organizing heat, power, and light companies throughout the United States. This 
company has planned to introduce natural gas wherever it can be found for fuel in 
conjunction with electricity (Westinglmuse Incandescent System) for light. Where 
natural gas cannot be found it is planned to combine with existing illuminating- 
gas companies, convert the illuminating-gas plant into a fuel-gas plant, and replace 
the illuminating gas by electricity. 




IN THE UNITED STATES. 


15 


manufactured fuel-gas; and as long as the Pittsburgh supply of gas 
can be kept up, it will induce manufacturers to establish their works 
at Pittsburgh in preference to other places, and thus add to the wealth 
of the State. For this reason it behooves every citizen of the State 
whether in Pittsburgh, in Philadelphia (where natural gas will 
never be found), or elsewhere, to prevent the criminal waste of gas 
which is now going on in so many localities in Western Pennsyl¬ 
vania. 

IX. Naturae Gas in Ohio. 

In Ohio, as far as developed, all the natural-gas horizons are 
contained in Palaeozoic strata, from the Upper coal-measures down 
and into the Trenton limestone. The most prolific gas-bearing 
rocks are the Berea grit in the Subcarboniferous period, and the 
Trenton limestone in the lower Silurian period. 

Professor Orton calls the territory in which gas is obtained in the 
Berea grit and Trenton limestone, high-pressure territory, and the 
territory in which the gas comes from the Ohio, Clinton, Medina, 
and Hudson River shales, low-pressure territory.* 

1. Gas in the Berea Grit. 

According to Orton, “the Berea grit territory occupies thirty-six 
counties of Eastern Ohio, in whole or in part. Through all of this 
area, the Berea grit is due at a depth of 300 to 2000 feet below the 
surface. It is everywhere roofed with a thin bed of black Berea 
shale, which in turn is covered by 200 to 500 feet of the light- 
colored Cuyahoga shales. It everywhere overlies a great thickness 
of Bedford and Ohio shales, the former of which is often red, and 
the latter of which always carries a considerable proportion of dark 
or black bituminous shales, interstrati tied with lighter-colored bands. 
There is a wonderful uniformity in this entire series throughout the 
area named, as has been shown by a large amount of drilling. The 
productiveness of the Berea in oil and gas cannot therefore depend 
on the composition of the series, for in that case all would be pro¬ 
ductive. It must depend on structure, and in the few places where 
it has been found productive, abnormal structure has been, in almost 
every instance, already detected. 

“The Berea grit is not the only petroliferous horizon in this 


* This distinction is based apparently upon the fact that the gas from the Berea 
and Trenton rocks is of higher and more constant pressure and in larger quantities 
than the gas from the other strata. 



16 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


area. The Coal-Measure sandstone and the Waverly conglomerate 
sometimes yield oil and high-pressure gas, but all these must be 
passed before the Berea is reached. 

2. Gas in the Trenton Limestone. 

0 

“ The Trenton limestone has been found a source of very valu¬ 
able stocks of oil and gas in three counties of the State, viz., Wood, 
Hancock, and Allen; and there is much reason to expect that 
Auglaize and Hardin, and possibly Shelby, Logan and Champaign 
counties, may prolong the productive belt southward. The north¬ 
western boundary seems already fairly well defined ; the north¬ 
eastern boundary less so, by reason of the small wells at Fremont, 
Carey, and Oak Harbor. The southern boundary, which has not 
yet passed the Allen county line, will be looked for with great 
interest. 

“ Practically the Trenton limestone is as effectually cut off from 
the Berea grit territory as the Berea grit is from the productive 
district of the Trenton limestone. In the latter case, the stratum 
to be sought for is a haif-mile in the air; in the former, a half-mile 
under ground.” 

3. Low Pressure Gas in Ohio. 

The gas derived from the Coal-Measures, Clinton, Medina, and 
Hudson River shales, is less persistent in its occurrence and very 
much less in quantity than that derived from the Berea Grit and the 
Trenton limestone. The largest gas-wells obtained from this group 
of strata are three at Fremont, Sandusky county. One of these wells 
gets its gas from the limestones and shales in the Clinton formation. 
The horizon of the gas from the Ohio shale has not been satisfac¬ 
torily determined, but it is probable that the gas comes from sporadic 
sand shales scattered in the general deposit. 

In the Maxburg oil-field the oil is derived from the Berea grit, 
and in the Lima field the oil is derived from the Trenton limestone. 

4. Discovery of Gas in Ohio Important. 

The discovery of natural gas in Ohio, if the deposits are sufficiently 
great and Constantin their supply for commercial purposes, is the dawn 
of a most important era to the manufacturing and industrial inter¬ 
ests of that State. One circumstance is worthy of special mention in 
this connection. In Pennsylvania the finding of natural gas has been 
confined largely to the region in which valuable coals were already 


IN TIIE UNITED STATES. 


17 


being rained, and were supplying a cheap and desirable fuel to 
established manufacturers. In Pennsylvania, again, the finding 
of natural gas will, probably, be always confined to regions produc¬ 
ing coal, or regions but a few miles removed from coal-mines, and 
in which coal can be almost as cheaply commanded as in those gas 
localities immediately at the coal-mines. But in Ohio gas has been 
found in areas which do not produce as good a coal for manufac¬ 
turing fuel purposes as in Pennsylvania, and in other areas many 
miles removed from any coal-field. 

Any comparison as to the amount of gas which Pennsylvania and 
Ohio, will be able to produce respectively, in the future, would be 
invidious, and in fact we have not sufficient evidence upon which to 
base any reliable conclusion. That there is sufficient gas in Ohio, 
as well as in Pennsylvania, to meet the demands of manufacturers for 
a number of years, and sufficient in many localities to warrant the 
erection of new plants there is no doubt; but, still, it is well to bear 
in mind that our gas-supply is exhaustible, and that our future sup¬ 
ply is now stored in buried rock-reservoirs. When these reser¬ 
voirs are emptied, our supply will have gone. It is true that on 
account of the intimate connection between oil and gas, gas will 
probably always be produced to a very limited extent bv the evapo¬ 
ration of the oil contained in the rocks. 

X. Natural Gas in New York. 

In the State of New York, as has already been stated, gas-springs 
arc more general in their occurrence than in either Pennsylvania or 
Ohio. With the exception of the gas-wells in the immediate vicinity 
of the Alleghany oil-district in Alleghany county, no gas-wells have 
been obtained which are comparable to those in either Pennsylvania 
or Ohio. 

At Fredonia, Chatauqua county, New York, gas was obtained from 
a well as early as 1821. In the Colburn well, which was drilled 
at Fredonia in 1871 and 1872, all the gas was obtained at a depth 
of 700 feet, or in the shales, 350 feet above the top of the Corniferous 
limestone. 

In 1823, Professor Eaton* measured the product of a gas-spring, 
immediately west of the village of Vernon, Oneida county. Dr. P. 
Hayes, in the New York Medical and Physical Journal , some time 
prior to 1842, gives an account of inflammable springs in Oneida 


* American Journal of Science , vol. xv., No. 236. 







18 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


county; and, in 1839, Professor Hall, in a New York Geological 
report, describes the occurrence of gas at Manchester, on the east 
side of Onanadagua Lake, the gas issuing from clefts in the rock. At 
Gasport, on the Erie Canal, in Niagara county, about six miles east 
ofLockport, Professor Eaton,* prior to 1842, describes the occurrence 
of gas-springs. 

Many other references have been published, of the occurrence of 
gas-springs for over forty years, in Duchess, Columbia, Albany, 
Yates, Munroe, Cattaragarus, Wayne, Delaware, Steuben, Ontario, 
and other counties. 

1. Natural Gas not Connected with Coal. 

It is interesting to know that, as early as 1842, Professor Beckf 
connected the occurrence of natural gas in the State with the pres¬ 
ence of petroleum or bituminous matter (not coal), which, he says, 
is generally diffused through the strata (sandstone and slate) in the 
localities where gas is found ; and he exploded, at that early day, a 
notion which is still popular among misinformed persons that the 
occurrence of natural gas has something to do with the occurrence 
of bituminous coal. 

2. Geological Horizons of Gas. 

The wells in Alleghany county derive their gas from the Chemung 
strata, while the springs in the counties just named, derive their gas 
from the Chemung, Hamilton and Hudson River shales, and the 
Corniferous and Helderberg limestones. 

A well has recently been drilled in the vicinity of Knowersville, 
Albany county, New York, and gas has been obtained under a 
pressure of 40 pounds to the square inch, from the Hudson River 
shales, at a horizon about 700 leet below the top of the shales, and 
below the bottom of the Lower Helderberg limestone. Considerable 
gas is reported from a well in the vicinity of Bloomfield,J Ontario 
county. Other occurrences in New York might be cited. 

XI. Gas Springs and Commercial Gas. 

Although it is possible to surmise in the case of any one of these 
gas-springs the particular geological horizon from which the gas 

* American Journal of Science, vol. xv., No. 231. 

f Natural History of New York, Part 3. 

f Prof. Chandler reports that the gas came from this well at a depth of 500 feet, 
and that the well discharged atone time as much as 800,000 cubic feet of a 14£ 
candle-power gas daily. 




IN THE UNITED STATES. 


19 


comes, it is impossible to make any exact statement on the subject. 
The gas in these springs unquestionably finds its escape through 
cracks in the rocks. 1 he source of the gas depends upon the depth 
to which the cracks extend beneath the surface. 

Many wells have been drilled for gas, within the last ten years, 
in the State of New York, south of the Erie Canal. As far as I 
am aware, but few of these wells have been drilled under profes¬ 
sional advice, and it is impossible to conclude, from the evidence 
which has so far been collected, whether gas will, or will not, be 
obtained in commercial quantities in the vicinity of any of the nu¬ 
merous New York gas-springs. It must be remembered, however, 
that the existence of a gas-spring is no positive indication of the ex 
istence of gas in large quantities in the rocks at any considerable 
depth below the surface, in the vicinity of the spring. The spring 
may be producing gas from a very small or an almost exhausted 
reservoir, or the gas may come from a reservoir containing a large 
amount of gas under high pressure, as at Findlay in Ohio. 

One or the other of the above extreme alternatives can alone be 
decided by the drill. A geological examination in the vicinity of 
the gas-spring may, however, determine many facts as to the advisa¬ 
bility of drilling a well, the best location for drilling, and the depth 
to be drilled to. So far as I am aware, the first historical mention 
we have of petroleum in the United States was the discovery of the 
Cuba oil-spring, in Alleghany county.* Although a number of oil- 
wells have been drilled in the vicinity of this oil-spring, no produc¬ 
tive oil or gas-rock has been discovered. I merely mention this fact 
to show that an oil-spring, as well as a gas-spring, is no positive in¬ 
dication of the existence of oil or of gas in commercial quantities, 
in strata underlying the spring. 

Nil. Natural Gas in other States. 

The existence of natural gas in other Statesf has been incidentally 
referred to in many professional reports. Dr. Newberry, many years 
ago, referred to the occurrence of gas under flaggy rocks of the 
Hudson River group in the valley of the Cumberland and its tribu¬ 
taries in the southern part of Kentucky. 

During the oil-excitement of 1865 and 1866, a number of wells 

* Segard’s Hidoire de Canada. 

f My attention has recently been directed to the occurrence of natural gas in 
several States, but I am not permitted at present to make public the facts which I 
have gathered through my field examination. 



20 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


were drilled in the northern part of Perry county, Indiana. These 
wells were generally drilled to a depth of 700 feet, and a small 
quantity of oil and gas was found in them. 

As early as 1833, Dr. Hildreth described gas-springs occurring 
in the Little and Great Kanawha Valleys, West Virginia, and later 
he described those in the valley of the Big Sandy, Kentucky. This 
latter region gives great promise of being an important gas-district. 

In 1879, the Litchfield Coal Company, at Litchfield, Illinois, 
drilled a well from the bottom of their coal-shaft, and found, at a depth 
of 255 feet below the coal-bed in the shaft, a heavy, lubricating oil, 
associated with salt water and gas. This gas sand has been recently 
drilled to in a number of adjoining wells, and gas, both for heat and 
illumination, is now being supplied to the town of Litchfield. A 
number of wells have been drilled in other parts of Illinois, and 
shows of gas obtained. The glacial drift, which covers for a con¬ 
siderable depth large areas of New York, Illinois and Ohio,* con¬ 
tains, in many localities, considerable natural gas, which has been 
used from one to two years for heat and illumination in houses near 
by; but I believe there is not sufficient gas in the glacial drift at 
any one place in the United States, to be of much commercial value. 

Reference might be made to many other localities in the United 
States, where gas has been reported, but sufficient geological facts 
are not known to give such a reference interest or value in this 
place. 

If this paper should suggest a search for natural gas in any section 
of the United Stales, I would most urgently recommend that no 
drilling of wells be undertaken until after a careful study of the 
geology of the region, as bearing on the occurrence of natural gas, 
has been made; otherwise, the fruitless waste of money incurred in 
oil- and gas-exploration in Pennsylvania during the past ten years 
will be repeated in other regions, 

* The same statement might be made as to the occurrence of gas in the glacial 
drift, which covers many other States, the most prominent examples occur however 
in these three States. 




IN THE UNITED STATES. 


21 


APPENDIX. 

Since reading the foregoing paper, before the American Institute 
of Mining Engineers at the St. Louis meeting (October, 1886), 
numerous inquiries have been made of me, as to the composition 
and fuel-value of natural gas and of the extent of the natural-gas 
business in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. In order to meet these in¬ 
quiries, I have thought it worth while, in publishing a private 
edition of my paper, to add to it a recent article on the former sub¬ 
ject by Professor Lesley, and an article on the latter subject, pub¬ 
lished in the American Manufacturer and Iron World. 

C. A. Ashbukner. 

COMPOSITION AND FUEL-VALUE OF NATURAL GAS* * * § 

By Professor J. P. Lesley, State Geologist of Pennsylvania. 

One pound of coal weighs 25 cubic feet of gas. 

One pound of coal has a fuel-value of 7^ cubic feet of gas.f 

In 1885, 300 miles of gas mains to the factories and dwellings of 
and around Pittsburgh furnished heating power equal to 2,000,000 
bushels of coal per month = 1,000,000 tons of coal per annum. 

Before the end of 1885 one gas company in Pittsburgh reported 
335 miles of pipe of all sizes, displacing the use of about 10,0J0 
tons of coal per day, or 3,650,000 tons per annum, the consumption 
growing rapidly.| 

Probably 5000 men will be dispensed with.§ 

* Extract Annual Report Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, 1885. 

f Tliis was the reuiied judgment of the Committee of the Engineers’ Society West 
Pennsylvania, who reported that a boiler (which did not quite satisfy them as 
giving the most economical results) which evaporated 9 pounds water by 1 pound 
coal, evaporated 20.31 pounds water by 1 pound gas. Allowing 23J cubic feet to 1 
pound of gas we have: (1) 1 pound gas = 2.255 pounds coal; and (2) 1 pound coal 
= 10.12 cubic feet gas for evaporating water. But for the above reason, say 1\. 
(See description of test in Scientific American, supplement No. 520, December 19th, 
1885.) 

J W. P. Shinn, February, 18SG. Mr. Carnegie stated in 1885 that the iron and 
steel mills of Pittsburgh needed 106,000 bushels of coal per day; that 40,000 had 
been replaced by gas. Sixty glass works needed 20,000 bushels, mostly now 
replaced by gas. Outside the city limits the replacement had been about the same. 

§ In a steel rail mill, instead of 30 stokers per 8 hours (=90 per day to handle. 
400 tons of coal) only 1 man per 8 hours is now needed to watch the water-gauges. 
(Carnegie.) 






I 


\ 


22 DISTRIBUTION” OF NATURAL GAS 

The waste at the wells being at first enormous, there was no econ¬ 
omy at the works; but of late precautions have been taken to econ¬ 
omize the supply. 

The gas is odorless, because free from sulphur, etc. 

This purity must be taken into account in estimating its value as 
a ftiel. It makes better iron, steel, and glass than can be made with 
coal gas or coal.* 

It makes steam more regularly, because there is no opening or 
shutting of doors, and no blank spaces left on grate bars for the en¬ 
trance of cold air. When properly arranged, its flow regulates the 
steam pressure, leaving the engine-man nothing to do but watch 
the steam gauge. 

Boilers last longer, and fewer explosions result from unequal ex¬ 
pansion and contraction when cold air strikes hot plates.f 

The theoretical value of gas as compared with coals, is stated in the 
report of S. A. Ford, chief chemist of the Edgar Thomson steel, 
works, 210,059,604 heat units in 1000 cubic feet of gas, weighing 
38 pounds avoirdupois, while the same weight of carbon contains 
139,398,896. 

Therefore, 1000 cubic feet gas = 57.25 pounds carbon, or 

Coke (at 90 per cent, carbon), 62.97 pounds, or 

Bituminous coal, 54.4 pounds, or 

Anthracite coal, 58.4 pounds.J 

The gas thus compared with coal by Mr. Ford was a gas of 
avei'agc chemical composition. In point of fact gas from one well 
differs from gas from another well ; and the gas from one and the 
same well varies in its chemical composition continually.§ 


* This of itself proves that it does not originate in coal measures. But if it he 
the decomposition of any kind of animator any vegetable tissue it is hard to explain 
the lack of odor. 

f A. Carnegie. 

1 Mr. Ford premises that these calculations are purely theoretical, giving a maxi¬ 
mum heat which will probably never be fully realized by the best arrangements. 
In conclusion he says that in these calculations no account is taken of the loss of 
heat by radiation, etc., the only object being to compare the fuels in respect to their 
heat units. 

$ It follows in the case of wells in the same gas basin and gas rock, that if the 
wells differ each well must vary. Arrange four wells in a square, N., E., S. and 
W. around a fifth well in the center of the square; then the gas of the center well 
will come from N., E., S. and W., at varying rates of speed, according to the quality 
of the n ck. It will therefore deliver a varying mixture of N., E.,S. and W. gases. 
Place three other wells F., N. and W. of the first N. well; then the first N. well 
will behave in like manner; and so on throughout a group. But what are we to 



IN THE UNITED STATES. 


23 


Gas from the same well was found to vary in Nitrogen from 23 
per cent, to 0 per cent.; in Carbonic Acid from 2 per cent, to 0 per 
cent.; in Oxygen from 4 per cent, to 0.4 per cent, and the compo¬ 
nent gases varied likewise.* * 

Six samples taken from one well on the 18th, 25th, 28th and 
29th October, 24th November and the 4th December, 1884, gave 
the following analyses:f 



(a.) 

(6.) 

(<'•) 

(d.) 

(e) 

(/) 

Marsh gas, 

. 57.85 

75.16 

72.18 

65.25 

60.70 

49.58 

Hydrogen, 

. 9.64 

14.45 

20.02 

26.16 

29.03 

35.92 

F.thylic hydride, 

. 5.20 

4.80 

3.60 

5.50 

7.92 

12 30 

Olefiant gas, 

. 0.80 

0 60 

0.70 

0.80 

0. u 8 

0.60 

Oxygen, . 

. 2.10 

1.20 

1.10 

0.80 

0.78 

0 80 

Carbonic oxide, 

. 1.00 

0.30 

1.00 

0.80 

0.58 

0.40 

Carbonic acid, . 

. 0.00 

0.30 

0.80 

0.60 

0.00 

0.40 

Nitrogen, . 

. 23.41 

2.89 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 


The/jco^ units of these six samples of gas vary accordingly thus: 


think of such a state of things in the gas rock? Has it once been charged with a 
homogeneous gas, and has the gas been subsequently differentiated? Has it always 
been charged with one kind of gas here, another there; and are these various kinds 
of gas now mingling for the first time? If each kind has always been localized 
does not that fact (if a fact) settle the question of the original production of the gas 
in the rock itself? Can ascension from below of any but homogeneous gas into the 
sandroek be conceived ? or even if variable gases come to the sandrock from below, 
must they not have mingled to have produced a homogeneous charge in the rock ? 
Other questions can he asked. The fact of variable composition seems to me to be 
the pivot of the discussion on the origin of gas. It seems, moreover, to bear with 
great weight on reasoning about porosity, pressure, velocity and quantity. 

* Wells deposit interesting minerals. In one case the pipe was nearly choked 
with soft gravish-white chloride of calcium. In another case the first rush of gas 
threw out crystals of carbonate of ammonia, and when this first issuing gas was tested 
Mr. Ford found a “considerable amount of that alkali.” In about two months the 
gas of this well began first to show chloride of calcium. Both these deposits are 
directly referable to the presence of salt water somewhere in the rock behind the 
gas. 

f The figures in the above table are copied from the printed figures in the 
Amtr. Man. Supplement, April, 1886, and may contain errors. The great quantity 
of nitrogen found in the first sample ^October 18th) is very remarkable, and shows a 
large mingling of air with the gas. 

X The analyses of the chemist of the Cambria Iron Company, at Johnstown, ex¬ 
hibit similar variations. But Dr. Chance has suggested a possible serious source of 
error in our calculations of fuel-value based upon the heat-units of the elements of 
rock-gas, if we accept without challenge analyses like those of Dr. Sadtler and Mr. 
Ford, which show what is supposed to be free hydrogen ranging in the most remark¬ 
able and incomprehensible manner from a minimum of say 10 per cent, to a maxi¬ 
mum of say 40 per cent. In gas-analyses “ free hydrogen ” cannot be separately 






24 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


(a.) Gas collected October 18, 1884, 


592.380 

(b ) Gas collected October 25, 1884, 


745,591 

(c.) Gas collected October 28, 1884, 


728,746 

(cl.) Gas collected October 29, 1884, 


698.852 

(e ) Gas collected N 

ovember 24, 1884, 


627,170 

(/.) Gas collected December 4, 1884, . 


745,813 

average of the six analyses and heat units would be as follows 


(* *•) 

(y.) 

(s.) 

Marsh gas, . 

. 67.00 

48.0256 

627,358 

Hydrogen, . 

. 22.00 

1.9712 

67,929 

Ethylic hydride, 

. 5.00 

6.7200 

77,679 

Olefiant gas, 

. 1.00 

1.2534 

14,910 

Oxygen, 

.80 

1.1468 


Carbonic oxide, . 

, .60 

0.7526 

1,808 

Carbonic acid, 

.60 

1.2257 


Nitrogen, . 

. 3.00 

3.7632 


(3.761 cub. ft.) = 

= (1000 grs. =) 

64.8585 

789,694 

hieh (x) shows 

percentages in 

100 liters; ( y ) 

weights it 


grammes; (z) heat units. Consequently 1000 cubic feet (= 265,887 
grains = 38 pounds) contain 210,0(19,604 heat units. But 38 
pounds carbon contains 139,398,896 heat units. Therefore 57^ 
pounds carbon = 1000 cubic feet gas. In like manner 63 pounds 
coke (90 per cent, carbon) = 1000 cubic feet gas. Therefore when 
coke is worth $2.50 per net ton the fuel value of gas is 8 cents per 
1000 cubic feet. By similar reasoning on the use of the better 
qualities of Pittsburgh coal (54^ pounds = 1000 cubic feet gas), 
when the coal is at $1.25 per net ton the fuel value of the gas is 3| 
cents per 1000 cubic feet.*' 

If the theoretical value of 1000 cubic feet gas equals that of 54.4 
lb. bituminous coal (or 41,000 cubic feet gas = 2210 lbs. coal), it 
will be quite safe to adopt a practical equivalence of 30,000 cubic 
feet gas to 1 ton coal. 

The difference in two volumetric analyses of Grapeville dry gas, 
made by Mr. Morrell, the chemist of the Cambria Iron Company, 
in February, 1886, is very striking : 


obtained and its volume or weight directly measuredi Its percentage is a calcula¬ 
tion, and may be a deception. There is no conclusive proof that hydrogen exists 
free in the well-gas. And it is a very significant fact that when the percentages of 
marsh-gas, hydrogen, and ethyl lie hydride are added together and recalculated, the 
variability of the series of analyses, in respect of its fuel value, disappears. 

* Ford’s report to the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, quoted by A. Carnegie. 














IN THE UNITED STATES. 


25 


Marsh gas, 

Ethyl-hydride, 

Nitrogen, 

Hydrogen, 

Olefiant gas, . 

Oxygen, 

Carbonic acid, 

Carbonic oxide, 

Heat units in 100 litres, 


GrapeviHe gas. 


Feb. t>. 

Feb. 13. 

35 08 

14 93 

28.87 

39.64 

27.87 

18.69 

7.05 

24.56 

0.17 

0.96 

0.16 

1.22 

0.58 

trace. 

0.22 

trace. 

69,766 

832,604 


Comparing with this the gas of the Siemen’s producer at the 
Cambria Iron Works, the difference in heat value is important: 


Nitrogen,. 56.00 * 

Hydrogen,.12 00 

Carbonic acid.4.00 

Carbonic oxide,.28.00 


Heat units in 100 litres,.121,252 


An analysis of the Grapeville gas, from a well half a mile north 


Jrapeville, in Westmoreland 
of sand, and 1102 feet deep, 

county, 
gave : 

the well bei 

ng 1099 feet to 



Percentage 
by volume. 

Heat units 
(100 litres.) 

Marsh gas. CH 4 , 


. 35.08 

297.549 

Ethvl-hydride, C 2 H 6 . 


. 28.87 

447.171 

Nitrogen, . 


. 27.87 

000.000 

Hydrogen, . ... . 


. 7.05 

21.866 

Olefiant gas, C 2 H 4 , 


. 0.17 

2.520 

Oxygen,. 


. 0.16 

0.000 

Carbonic acid, . 


. 0.58 

0.000 

Carbonic oxide, . . . . 


. 0.22 

100.00 

O 1 <0 
<o o 
to 1 - 

oS 

CO 

L- 


PITTSBURGH NATURAL GAS WELLS AND SUPPLY COMPANIES* 

Natural Gas Wells Supplying Pittsburgh. 

There are at present six companies piping gas to Pittsburgh, viz.: 
the Philadelphia, the Chartiers, the Manufacturers’, the Pennsyl¬ 
vania, the Washington and the People’s. These companies had at a 
recent date, which may be placed at the first of November, though 
the reports are of dates varying a few days one way or the other 
from that date, 107 wells, distributed as follows: 


* American Manufacturer and Iron World, Nov. 12, 1886. 



























26 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


Company. 

Murrysville. 

Tarentnm. 

Hickory. 

Canonshurg. 

Total. 

Philadelphia. 

48 

10 



38 

( hartiers. 

7 


id 

... 

23 

Manufacturers’. 



• • • 

10 

10 

Pennsylvania. 


1 

• • • 

7 

8 

Washington. 



5 

• • • 

5 

People’s. 

3 

... 

... 

... 

3 


Tn addition to the above the Philadelphia Company have in the 
sand, ready to bring in the first of December, 6 wells in the Murrys- 
ville district and 1 well in the Tarentnm district. 

In drilling the above wells 10 drv holes have been struck, viz.: 
1 in Murrvsville district by the Philadelphia Company, 6 in the 
Hickory district by the Chartiers Company, 1 in the Tarentnm by 
the Pennsylvania Company, and 2 in the Hickory by the Washing¬ 
ton Company, making a total of 8 in the Hickory district and 1 
each in the Tarentnm and Murrvsville districts. This is about 1 
dry hole to every 10.7 producing wells. 

As is stated in our article on the Philadelphia Gas Company’s 
Lines, there is a pressure that is normal to all of the wells in the 
several districts, but, contrary to the general belief, all wells of the 
same size and of the same pressure are not equal producers of gas. 
1 he production of the wells in the Murrysville district may be taken 
to be practically the same, and this rate of production may be as¬ 
sumed to be 1. Compared with this unit, the production in the 
Hickory district at some wells is but and varies to 1. That is, 
some of the Hickory wells produce as much gas as the Murrysville; 
others in this district but one-tenth as much. The Canonshurg 
wells vary from x 3 0 to 1 in producing power, while the Tarentnm 
wells do not exceed ,‘ 0 . The reason of this difference in the pro¬ 
ducing power of the wells in the same district and in different dis¬ 
tricts, though the pressure may be the same, is ascribed to the fact 
that the sand, which is the gas reservoir and from which it is drawn, 
differs in porosity, and possibly in the amount of crevasses or broken 
strata, the coarser sand and that with the greater number of crevases 
being the greatest producer, while the finer sand that has been but 
little broken is a small producer of gas. 

From information furnished us, reducing the producing power of 
the 107 wells in the several districts are equal in producing power 
to 82 x 9 0 Murrysville wells. 




















IX THE UNITED STATES. 


27 


The Mileage and Sizes of Natural Gas Pipes in Pittsburgh. 

As is elsewhere stated, tlie total mileage of pipes laid for supply¬ 
ing the city of Pittsburgh with natural gas is something remarkable 
—exceeding 500 miles of pipe of various sizes. Of these 232, 4 0 miles 
are laid within the city of Pittsburgh. We give a statement below, 
showing the number of feet of each size laid by each company within 
the city together with the total number of feet of each size laid by 
all the companies. 

Prior to making this statement, however, it may be interesting 
to say that the total area of the pipes leading from the wells, at the 
wells is 1,3-16,608 square inches. The total area of pipe at the city 
line is 2,337,083 square inches. In the following table will be 
found the number of feet of pipe of each size laid by each of the 
companies within the city limits: 


Total Number of Feet of each Size of Pipe Laid in the City 
of Pittsburgh by each Natural Gas Company. 


Company. 


Philadelphia. 


Cliartiers 


People’s 


Pennsylvania. 


Manufacturers’. 
Washington. 


Feet of pipe. 

Size, inches. 

11,389 

30 

65,899 

24 

43,377 

20 

3,500 

16 

17,306 

12 

10,533 

10 

308,150 

8 

211,855 

6 

152,989 

5f 

4,091 

41 

130.084 

4 

10.230 

3 

32.985 

20 

15.350 

10 

3,035 

12 

12,800 

8 

52,800 

6 

47.425 

8 

17,305 

6 

2,490 

4 

7,900 

10 

8.080 

10 

1,405 

8 

11,125 

6 

5,680 

4 

385 . 

3 

22,750 

12 

3,780 

8 

5,150 

6 

5.150 

8 


Total feet. 


971,203 


110,970 


07,280 


34,575 

26,530 

10,300 


1,226,804 


























28 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


Total Number of Fed of Natural Gas Pipe of each Size Laid in the 

City of Pittsburgh. 


Size of pipe, inches. 

Feet of pip? laid. 

Size of pipe, inches. 

Feet of pipe laid. 

30. 

11.589 

8 

378.710 

24. 

66,809 

6 

298,295 

20. 

76,362 

5f 

152 989 

16. 

26.756 

4f 

4,091 

12. 

43,091 

4 

138,854 

10. 

18,613 

3 

10,615 


For the purpose of comparison, we have taken pains to compute 
the length of pipe simply, without regard to their area, owned by 
the several gas companies in the city, which we find to amount in 
all to 232 miles, of which 184 miles, or something more than three- 
fourths, are owned by the Philadelphia Company. This by no 
means represents the great preponderance of that company in power 
of distribution, because no other company has any pipe exceeding 
twenty inches in diameter, of which one company has about six miles. 
The Philadelphia Company has twenty-four miles of mains of twenty 
inches diameter and upwards, within the city limits. 

The Philadelphia Company and its Gas Lines. 

The mileage of pipe at present in use in conveying natural gas 
from the wells to Pittsburgh and in distributing it to consumers 
reaches an aggregate that is simply astonishing, especially when it 
is remembered that it is but a little more than three years since the 
first line was laid from Murrysville to this city. Though no state¬ 
ment has been obtained as to the total mileage of pipe laid to and 
in Pittsburgh :t is safe to estimate it at 500 miles of all sizes, enough, 
were it laid in one continuous line, to reach from Pittsburgh to 
Chicago, and 50 miles beyond. Some of this pipe is 30" in diameter; 
over 12 miles of that laid in Pittsburgh 24", a large amount 20", 
and so down to 3". But one company, the Philadelphia, has 24" 
and 30" pipe and but one other company 20". The Philadelphia 
Company has 24 miles of mains of 20" diameter and upwards laid 
in the city of Pittsburgh alone. 

In the accompanying map is shown the system of pipe lines of 
the Philadelphia Company from the wells to Pittsburgh. The scale 
of the map is too small to enable us to show the distributing system 
in the city itself. 


















TUM 


( i TT OfI^ 



MURFWSVIUE 


VONS Run 


■Maip Pipe pipes'- 


Dec. I & 5 6 


. Vote: Doited lines represent 

TT7 r t J 71 L 1 77 cas t i r0n P*P eS 

Lherniarlm iaJjnnm M/sour^ra. Fun lives represent 

wrought iron pipes 


Distance bwmjrlmatgvilk to Pittsburgh DtWirs 
I " ■' Tannhim " " i>4< " 




















































IN THE UNITED STATES. 


29 


At present this company draws its supplies of gas from the Taren- 
tum and Murrysville fields, the “Lyon’s Run” field being in- 

J f J o 

eluded in the latter, to which it is so nearly adjacent. 

It will be seen from the map that one line only leaves Tarentum, 
where the pressure in the wells is much less than at Murrysville, 
and quickly begins to dispense the products of that field in the 
village of Tarentum, at Springdale, at Hu lion and Verona, the sur¬ 
plus remaining in the pipes being passed on from Hoboken to Etna 
and Allegheny. From Hoboken a twenty-inch line, which draws 
its supplies from Tarentum and from the Murrysville gas field, by 
the crossing at Sandy Creek, continues through Etna to Willow 
Grove, where it discharges into the twenty-inch main of the Alle- 
gheny Heating Company from which point many large mills and 
several thousands of houses are supplied with fuel. 

Starting now from the Murrysville field, the wells are so connected 
together by a system of pipes that the products of most of them may 
be discharged into any one of the eight lines which originate at that 
point, so that, however great the demand upon any line or system of 
lines, it can be reinforced up to any point, or any one of the lines, 
or even several of them, may be dispensed with for repairs, if ne¬ 
cessary. 

From Verner to Nibloek it will be observed that there are only 
three lines, which are increased by the addition of a sixteen-inch line 
at the latter point, which continues on to Telford with the others. 
While the other three go to Sandy Creek, the sixteen-inch line 
crosses the country to Gilmore, to unite with other three lines from 
Murrysville for a central entrance into the city. This sixteen-inch 
line is now being continued from Nibloek to Murrysville. From 
Mu rrvsville two five and five-eighths lines will be seen, which reach 
the city at Forward avenue, and thence discharge into the twenty- 
inch main on Second avenue. 

From Lyon’s Run there are three eight-inch lines, plainly indi¬ 
cated on the map, one of which supplies Braddock and Homestead, 
the other two crossing the river at Kenney, sending off a branch to 
McKeesport, and, continuing on through Hays enters the twenty- 
inch main of the South Side at Thirty-fourth street. 

Returning to the lines from Murrysville, It will be seen that at 
Gilmore the sixteen-inch main changes into a twenty-four inch, and 
when it reaches the corner of Frankstown and Fifth avenues it bi¬ 
furcates and continues itscourse, each of the branches being of twenty- 


30 


DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS 


four inches diameter, one extending to Thirty-sixth street, on the 
Allegheny River, and the other to Keystone, on the Monongahela. 

Resuming the course of the lines from Sandy Creek, it will be 
seen that two branches run down upon the south side of the Alle¬ 
gheny river, while the other lines cross over to Hoboken, where 
they connect with the eight-inch line and the twenty-inch line upon 
the north side of the river. 

The lines on the north side of the river and on the south side are 
all carried into the twenty-inch main, which originates at Haight’s 
Run, and is continued by a twenty-four-inch line through the Thirty- 
sixth street Station and along the Allegheny River to Tenth street. 

A thirty-inch main, which may be called the backbone of the city 
system, starts from Thirty-sixth street Station and continues through 
Liberty avenue to Tenth street, where it intersects with the twenty- 
inch line running across the city and under the Monongahela to First 
street in Birmingham. This is continued by a twenty-inch main 
through Carson street to Temperanceville, and by a sixteen-inch 
pipe through that borough. This briefiv sketches the mains by 
which the low-pressure pipes, from which the domestic supply is 
taken, are fed. 

At each of the stations, numbering twenty-one in all, the connect¬ 
ing lines are governed by valves, through the operation of which the 
[tresslire may be either increased or diminished at the command of 
the central office, where the General Superintendent directs, all 
movements; the pressures hourly requiring more or less alteration 
according to the varying demands of the several lines. On this 
account, agents are kept on duty at each station both night and day, 
and the pressures in the lines are recorded at each station every 
hour and reported to the central office. There is a system of 
telephone lines, most of which are the property of the Philadel¬ 
phia Company, connecting all the stations. The map is on too small 
a scale to indicate the low-pressure lines in the city, which amount 
to about one hundred miles in length, and are generally laid on both 
sides of the street. 

It is a fact well known to gas engineers that the greatest difficulty 
in carrying air or gas in pipes arises from leakage, which, in the 
case of gas, is highly dangerous unless carefully provided for. It 
has been found with illuminating gas to be imprudent to carry more 
than two or three ounces of pressure, the leakage amounting even at 
that pressure to from fifteen to thirty per cent, of the whole amount 
distributed. An appreciation of this fact has led the Philadelphia 


IN THE UNITED STATES. 


o I 
Ol 

Company to adopt the policy of carrying the least possible pressure 
in the city, in order not only to save the loss from leakage, but also 
to avoid endangering life and property. Accordingly, the pressure 
within the city nowhere exceeds about thirteen pounds, diminishing 
in the larger lines to from six to eight pounds per square inch ; in 
the low pressure lines, the pressure is reduced to about four or five 
ounces. In addition to this precaution, the supply is introduced 
into mills and houses through regulators, which maintain the pres¬ 
sure at what may be determined upon, and which close of themselves 
if the supply is cut off; not opening again so long as any valve 
remains open beyond the regulator. 

The property adjacent to the lines within the city is protected 
against danger from the inevitable leakage by ingenious devices 
which surround the joints of the pipes and carry away the leaking 
gas to lamp-posts in the sidewalks. 

The Philadelphia Company is now supplying four hundred and 
seventy industrial establishments with fuel—in which number are 
included all sorts of manufactories—and in addition thereto about 
five thousand dwellings within the city proper, not counting dwell¬ 
ings or industrial establishments in the large number of villages 
which are supplied, and those of the city of Allegheny, for which 
the gas is furnished by the Philadelphia Company. 

I he Philadelphia Company is the largest supplier of natural gas 
in the world. In number of consumers and in the amount of gas 
furnished, as well as in the length of pipe laid, it exceeds all the 
other gas companies of Pittsburgh put together. It was organized 
with the intention of conducting its operations upon the most ex¬ 
tensive scale, aiming at supplying the entire city of Pittsburgh and its 
suburbs with this fuel. This company now has a capital of seven and 
a half millions of dollars, the whole of this large sum and about a 
million besides, taken from its earnings, being invested in its plant. 

It owns the natural gas supply from about 54,000 acres of land, 
advantageously placed on all the anticlinal* around Pittsburgh ; but, 
at present, draws its supplies only from Tarentum and the Murrys- 
ville field, in which we iuclude “ Lyon’s Run,” because it is so nearly 
adjacent to Murrysville. 

At Tarentum the company has ten producing wells and one now 
being drilled. At Murrysville and Lyon’s Run it has forty eight 
producing wells, with six now drilling, to be completed before the 
first of December. 

At the present time the product of only thirty-three of these wells 


32 DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL GAS IN THE UNITED STATES. 


is required, in order to supply the customers of the Philadelphia 
Company, leaving thirty-one wells in reserve for emergencies and 
further demands. 

Upon the completion of the lines now under construction, which 
will be finished this month, it is expected that the product of all 
these wells can be brought to the city, the distributing capacity of 
the pipes in the city being ample for this purpose if there should be 
a sufficient demand for the gas. 

During the past summer the company has devised means by which 
it has successfully shut up more than one-half of its wells, so that 
it is no longer allowing any gas to be discharged uselessly into the 
open air, but is able to retain it in the natural reservoir until needed. 

At the wells the average pressure, when shut in, is about 500 
pounds per square inch, but in the new wells it is very much greater 
than this, often rising to an immeasurable pressure for a few weeks, 
when the wells subside to about the average of the others in the 
territory. 

This is one of the interesting facts in connection with gas wells, 
viz.: that, though wells may show great differences in pressure when 
first struck, all of the wells in the same field show in a very short 
time nearly the same pressure. It is not true, however, that this 
pressure, which may be termed the normal pressure, is the same in 
all districts. Taking the normal pressure at Murrysville as 1, as a 
rule the Tarentum pressure and value would be fo; Hickory varies 
from fo to 1 ; Canonsburg, 1 3 0 to 1. 


(Reprint from “ Science,” Vol. IX., No. 20G, Page 39.) 

NATURAL GAS. 

A Lecture on the subject of natural gas was delivered at the 
Franklin Institute on Saturday evening, December 18th last by Mr. 
Charles A. Ashburner, geologist in charge, State Geological Sur¬ 
vey. The lecturer stated that natural gas was by no means a recent 
discovery. Even its utilization for the purposes of the mechanic 
arts had been successfully attempted in China, where, by pipes of 
bamboo, it had been conveyed from natural wells to suitable fur¬ 
naces and, by means of terra cotta burners, was consumed. In 
the confines of Persia, in the south of France, and in our own 
western States, burning springs had long been known. W hen La¬ 
fayette visited this country, in 1821, the inn in the town of Fre- 
donia, New York, was illuminated in his honor by gas procured 
from a neighboring well. It is, however, only within recent years 
that natural gas has arisen to any importance in its bearing on the 
mechanic arts. At present the great iron and glass works of Pitts¬ 
burgh, and of other places, are supplied with natural gas as their 
only fuel, and millions of cubic feet are yearly consumed in Pitts¬ 
burgh and similarly situated cities. 

Of the origin of natural gas there seems to be no reasonable 
doubt. It arises from the decomposition of forms of animal or 
vegetable life embedded in the rocks in suitable situations. The gas 
is not believed to be generated continuously, but merely to be stored 
in porous or cavernous rocks overlaid by impervious strata. When 
these collections are tapped the gas is set free, but a new supply is 
not being formed to take its place. The position at which the gas 
is found is very variable, depending upon the force of gravity and 
upon the position of the porous layer in which the gas is confined. 
The lecturer entered into an accurate description of the localities in 
which the gas was found, and gave the reasons why it was hopeless, 
from geological grounds, to look for natural gas east of the Alle¬ 
ghenies. The region in which the gas is found is practically em¬ 
braced in that portion of Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny moun¬ 
tains, and extending a very short distance into Ohio, New York, 
and West Virginia; and it is also stated to have been found, to a 
very limited extent, in Illinois and Kansas. 

The most important economic locality is that in the immediate 
vicinity of Pittsburgh, which supplies that city with the fuel for 
the vast iron and glass works and for numerous private dwellings. 
There are six natural-gas companies in that city, managing 107 
wells, and supplying the gas through over 5C0 miles of pipe, of 
which 232 miles are situated in the city proper. The total area of 
pipe leading into Pittsburgh is given as 1,346,608 square inches, 
and the total capacity of the lines is estimated at over 250,000,000 
cubic feet of gas per day. The largest company is the Philadelphia 
(natural-gas) Company, which supplies over 400 manufactories and 
over 7000 dwellings with the entire amount of fuel consumed. The 
composition of natural gas varies greatly, both in specimens from 
different wells and in those from the same well at different times. 
In general terms, it can be described as a mixture of hydrogen, 
nitrogen, and marsh-gas, with occasionally higher carbon com- 


pounds. It burns with a nearly colorless flame, and gives off no 
odor or deleterious matter. 

In speaking of the use of natural gas for domestic purposes, Mr. 
Ashburner pointed out the great advantages which a gaseous fuel 
has over a solid one like coal, and stated his belief that the greatest 
of the advantages of the discovery of natural gas was, that it had 
proven the great economy and practical utility of such fuel. A 
thousand cubic feet of gas was calculated to equal, in heating ca¬ 
pacity, fifty-five pounds of ctal. He stated that the use of natural 
gas for domestic purposes would not have been possible without the 
inventions of Mr. George Westinghouse, Jr., of Pittsburgh, two of 
whose inventions the lecturer illustrated. One of these inventions 
was intended to prevent leakage from gas pipes, and to locate leaks ac¬ 
curately when they occurred. The leaking gas is conveyed to the 
nearest lamp-post and there consumed. Another invention was a 
most ingenious pressure-regulator, which not only regulates the pres¬ 
sure at which the gas is supplied to the burners, regardless of the 
pressure in the mains, but, in the event of the pressure in the mains 
dropping to zero, automatically shuts off all the gas from the house; 
nor is it possible to turn the gas on again, without violence to the 
regulator, until every source of escape of gas larger than a pin-hole 
leak has been first corrected. A model of the regulator was ex¬ 
hibited. The lecture was illustrated by drawings and maps, and 
by a small working model of a well-boring apparatus. 

In answer to inquiries, the lecturer stated that the source of nat¬ 
ural gas was certainly capable of exhaustion, but that he did not 
think there was any imminent danger of such a calamity. The 
sources of supply would certainly last many years, and he believed 
that, before they would give out, a method of producing an artificial 
gas would be invented, which would perfectly supplant the present 
natural gas. The cost of natural gas could not be compared with 
our coal gas for the reason that the natural gas was not sold by 
meter. The consumer makes a yearly contract with the company 
to supply him with light or fuel, or both, at certain rates. A house 
containing twelve rooms costs to heat from $70 to $90 a year. The 
use of the gas is most satisfactory ; for, bv means of an automatic 
temperature regulator, every room of a house may be kept at a tem¬ 
perature not varying two degrees, regardless of the condition of the 
outside temperature or the pressure on the mains. Defects and 
troubles were only met with from lack of understanding how to 
properly regulate the supply or the combustion. 

In reply to the question as to whether he thought it wise for the 
City of Philadelphia to lease the gas works for a term of years, Mr. 
Ashburner replied that, as a business-man, he would say that any 
scheme for supplying the ordinary form of coal gas was, at the 
present time, extremely uncertain as a business venture. He be¬ 
lieved that a very short time would demonstrate that there was a 
method of generating a fuel gas which would totally supplant all 
present modes of heating, and that electricity (Westinghouse In¬ 
candescent System) had already solved the problem of illumination. 
We were in a transition stage with regard to both heating and light, 
and for these reasons and from this standpoint, he would regard anv 
movement as undesirable at this time. 





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